by Check CU | Apr 24, 2022 | Latest Articles
A second Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit has been filed this month against the City of Urbana, Illinois and the Urbana Police Department. The complaint, filed on behalf of Check CU Founder Christopher Hansen on April 14th, alleges the following: The...
by Check CU | Apr 16, 2022 | Latest Articles
A lawsuit filed last week alleges willful and repeated violations of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by several public bodies in Champaign County. The City of Urbana, the Village of Rantoul, and the Champaign County State’s Attorney’s Office are...
by Check CU | Apr 14, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois Police Chief Bryant Seraphin (now resigned) and Deputy Chief Richard Surles (now Interim Chief) present to the City Council on increased police use of force at the August 23rd, 2021 Council meeting The Urbana, Illinois Police Department appears to...
by Check CU | Apr 11, 2022 | Latest Articles
On January 29th, 2022 Check CU requested a number of records involving police use of force from the City of Urbana, Illinois. The Urbana Police Department is still refusing to release some police reports and they have refused to release the names of police...
by Check CU | Apr 10, 2022 | Latest Articles
Champaign, Illinois County Courthouse (photo by ILDocs.com) The Champaign County State’s Attorney’s Office has repeatedly refused to supply records related to the malicious prosecution of two men – a prosecution based on falsified evidence which left them imprisoned...
by Check CU | Apr 8, 2022 | Latest Articles
(Champaign, Illinois City Building – Photo by ILDocs.com) On March 21st, 2022 Check CU asked the City of Champaign, Illinois to provide copies of complaints submitted against police officers in 2021 and 2022. Three days later, City Clerk Shannon Myers fully...
by Check CU | Apr 8, 2022 | Latest Articles
Champaign Police Officers Kevin Olmstead (left) and Bruce Ramseyer (right) at the January 8th, 2020 meeting of the Citizen Review Subcommittee meeting. On that date, Ramseyer passed his police complaint review responsibilities over to Olmstead. Check CU recently...
by Check CU | Apr 8, 2022 | Latest Articles
On March 21st, 2022 Check CU Founder Christopher Hansen asked the City of Champaign, Illinois to provide copies of complaints submitted against police officers in 2021 and 2022. Three days later, City Clerk Shannon Myers fully denied the request. Myers claimed...
by Check CU | Apr 7, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois Mayor Diane Marlin and Council members Jaya Kolisetty, Grace Wilken, Christopher Evans, James Quisenberry, Shirese Hursey, Chaundra Bishop, and Maryalice Wu The entire Urbana, Illinois City Council seems content simply ignoring numerous public records...
by Check CU | Apr 6, 2022 | Latest Articles
On January 21st, 2022 Check CU sent a public records request to Village of Rantoul Clerk and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Officer Janet Gray seeking police complaints from 2010 through 2018. Gray passed the request off to Village Attorney David Wesner who,...
by Check CU | Mar 31, 2022 | Latest Articles
The University of Illinois Police Department (UIPD) is dispensing complaint forms that quite clearly violate Illinois State law. The forms and related procedures contain numerous provisions that require the complainant to sign a sworn affidavit and have it...
by Check CU | Mar 30, 2022 | Latest Articles
One of more than a dozen automatic license plate reader (ALPR) installations in the Village of Rantoul, Illinois. The Village of Rantoul, Illinois has asserted for the second time that they are permitted to keep locations of automatic license plate readers a secret...
by Check CU | Mar 21, 2022 | Latest Articles
Check CU filed a lawsuit today alleging that the City of Champaign willfully violated the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by refusing to provide records related to the Champaign County Community Coalition (CCCC). Two days ago, Check CU published an article...
by Check CU | Mar 20, 2022 | Latest Articles
Check CU has received data from the City of Decatur showing all of their automatic license plate reader (ALPR) locations, as well as sample images from each camera. ALPRs were unanimously approved by the Decatur City Council in March of 2021, making them one of...
by Check CU | Mar 13, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois Police Officer Colby Wright chases an unarmed subject with both guns drawn after already having shot him in the back with his TASER Body camera video and police reports obtained from the Urbana Police Department (UPD) show what appear to be highly...
by Check CU | Mar 9, 2022 | Latest Articles
The Red Lion Bar in Champaign, Illinois. Two security cameras appear to cover the area directly in front of the entrance where a young woman was rendered unconscious after an alleged encounter with bar security. A disturbing video posted on YouTube three days...
by Check CU | Feb 26, 2022 | Latest Articles
Two vehicles racing through Urbana, Illinois ended their chase with a bang after one of the cars crashed into a power pole. The resulting electrical arc from the power lines above turned night into day for just a moment, then a portion of the West Urbana neighborhood...
by Check CU | Feb 26, 2022 | Latest Articles
Former Champaign, Illinois Police Chief Robert T Finney, now teaching Criminal Justice at Parkland College in Champaign Last week, Check CU published an article about former Champaign Police Chief Robert T Finney landing a teaching job at Parkland College. His...
by Check CU | Feb 25, 2022 | Latest Articles
FOIA Officer for the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District (CUPHD) Patricia Robinson, Public Health Administrator Julie Pryde, HR Generalist Amy Roberts In November of 2021, the Illinois Attorney General began investigating the Champaign-Urbana Public Health...
by Check CU | Feb 24, 2022
These documents were provided by Parkland College (Champaign, Illinois) in response to a FOIA request asking for, “any and all records which would show the employment activities of Robert Finney. This includes records showing which classes teaching, duties such as...
by Check CU | Feb 13, 2022 | Latest Articles
Former Police Chief of Champaign, Illinois enters the law enforcement field in Champaign for the first time in ten years Robert T. Finney has reentered the law enforcement profession in Champaign, Illinois for the first time since his resignation as Champaign Police...
by Check CU | Feb 4, 2022 | Latest Articles
Check CU recently published an article about the Danville, Illinois Police Department utilizing unlawful requirements in their civilian complaint forms. The article showed that the complaint form requires a sworn affidavit, and also requires complainants to...
by Check CU | Jan 31, 2022
These documents were provided by Parkland College (Champaign, Illinois) in response to a FOIA request asking for “Any and all records related to the employment of Robert T Finney. Records should include, but not be limited to, job advertisements, job requirements, job...
by Check CU | Jan 30, 2022 | Latest Articles
On May 19, 2021, City of Champaign Police Officers Chris Oberheim and Jeffrey Creel responded to a call regarding a domestic disturbance. After the officers approached an individual sitting in a car outside of the Town Center Apartments complex in the north end of...
by Check CU | Jan 23, 2022 | Latest Articles
A new 2021 Rantoul Police Department Complaint Form and accompanying instructions bearing the name of Chief of Police Anthony J Brown (click image for full PDF) Check CU recently published an article showing that the civilian complaint forms dispensed by the Rantoul...
by Check CU | Jan 23, 2022 | Latest Articles
Danville Mayor Rickey Williams violated the Open Meetings Act at several City Council meetings in 2021 Danville Mayor Rickey Williams and the Danville City Council violated the Open Meetings Act (OMA) at several of their meetings last year, according to a...
by Check CU | Jan 21, 2022 | Latest Articles
On November 7th, 2021, Check CU sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Village of Rantoul asking for past police complaints. The request was sent to Rantoul Village Clerk and FOIA Officer Janet Gray. The records response was handled by Village...
by Check CU | Jan 17, 2022 | Latest Articles
(click image to view full 3 page PDF) As public bodies in Champaign County, such as the City of Urbana, City of Champaign, the Champaign Sherriff’s Office, and the University of Illinois continue to consider and implement automatic license plate readers (ALPRs), the...
by Check CU | Nov 19, 2021
These documents were provided by the City of Urbana, Illinois in response to a FOIA request which asked for correspondence regarding Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs) and ALPR distributor Flock Safety from January 1, 2020 to September 20, 2021. Urbana...
by Check CU | Nov 17, 2021 | Latest Articles
A Flock Safety automatic license plate reader (ALPR) failed to capture this motorcyclist passing by, along with hundreds of other vehicles On October 17th, Check CU visited the Village of Rantoul to observe the automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) that had been...
by Check CU | Nov 14, 2021 | Latest Articles
A clip from a presentation given by Police Chief Bryant Seraphin and ALPR salesman Dan Murdock at the September 20th Urbana City Council meeting (yellow highlighting added by Check CU) When Urbana Police Chief Bryant Seraphin and a representative from automatic...
by Check CU | Oct 19, 2021 | Latest Articles
Check CU is in possession of a letter which was sent to the Urbana City Council on June 22nd this year, in regards to the Mayoral appointment process. The letter was sent by forcibly-retired Urbana Fire Department Division Chief Chad Hensch, and it sheds a...
by Check CU | Sep 12, 2021 | Latest Articles
Since mid-2020, police “use of force” has become a front-and-center issue both locally and nationally. The City of Urbana has been hearing from residents about the need for police use of force reform for the past 18 months, and City officials have frequently...
by Check CU | May 26, 2021
These documents were provided by the City of Urbana, Illinois in response to a FOIA request which asked for records related to the promotion/appointment of James Cory Koker to Lieutenant on March 8th, 2021. The files also contain other records related to the...
by Check CU | May 19, 2021
These records were provided in response to a FOIA request submitted to the City of Champaign asking for “All human rights complaints submitted to the City of Champaign in 2010 and 2019”. Champaign Human Rights Complaints from 2010-2019 Champaign Human Rights...
by Check CU | May 5, 2021
Champaign Human Rights Complaints from 2020 to 03-25-2021 These records were provided in response to a FOIA request submitted to the City of Champaign asking for “All human rights complaints submitted to the City of Champaign in 2020 and 2021”. The request was...
by Check CU | Apr 19, 2021 | Latest Articles
Early last week the Illinois Attorney General website that provides vital services to Illinois residents and governmental bodies was taken down, and it is still down. The mysterious incident has cause the website residing at ilattorneygeneral.net to become completely...
by Check CU | Apr 4, 2021 | Latest Articles
The February 1st 2021 meeting of the Champaign Human Relations Commission (HRC) revealed a most bizarre and nonsensical City of Champaign policy: according to City staff, the HRC and the public are not allowed to see or know any details about Human Rights complaints...
by Check CU | Mar 24, 2021
These documents were provided by the City of Danville, Illinois in response to a FOIA request which asked for: “Any and all records related to the hiring/approval of the new Danville “corporation counsel” on February 16 2021. Records should include any job...
by Check CU | Mar 19, 2021
These documents were provided by Champaign County Executive Darlene Kloeppel in response to a FOIA request which asked for: “All records and documents, including emails, regarding the hiring and employment of William Colbrook.” Kloeppel responded to the FOIA requests...
by Check CU | Feb 19, 2021
These documents were provided by Parkland College in response to a FOIA request which asked for: “Any and all documents related to the employment of William Colbrook (such as wage and employee information). Any and all documents related to the retirement of William...
by Check CU | Feb 17, 2021
These documents were provided by the City of Urbana in response to a FOIA request which asked for: “Any and all records which show payments and obligations to contractors, companies, or consulting firms made by the City of Urbana and the Urbana Police Department in...
by Check CU | Feb 16, 2021
These documents were provided by the City of Urbana in response to a FOIA request which asked for: “Any and all records related to the recent decision by the Urbana Police Department to purchase riot helmets and gas masks. This should include any emails related to the...
by Check CU | Feb 12, 2021 | Latest Articles
On January 15th, the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) convened for an appeals hearing in regards to a handful of police complaints filed more than a year prior. A number of issues arose which seem to indicate that due process is of little concern in regards...
by Check CU | Feb 12, 2021
These documents were provided by the City of Urbana in response to a FOIA request which asked for records related to negotiations the Ward 2 City Council member Erik Sacks claimed he was having with a property developer. Sacks claimed: “Thus, there is...
by Check CU | Feb 9, 2021 | Latest Articles
University of Illinois Professor and Urbana City Council member Erik Jakobsson University of Illinois Professor and former City Council member Eric Jakobsson has joined the small group of conspiracy theorists who believe the City of Urbana is under attack by...
by Check CU | Feb 8, 2021 | Latest Articles
Erik Sacks, Appointed to the Ward 2 City Council seat by Mayor Marlin in late December The newly seated Alderman for Urbana City Council Ward 2, Erik Sacks, has an interesting take on the upcoming Primary election in Urbana. According to Sacks, the wave of...
by Check CU | Jan 27, 2021
These documents were provided by the City of Urbana in response to a FOIA request which asked for: “Any and all documents related to the original acquisition of Mr McNeil’s services and which show his status and pay rate as an employee or contractor. Any and...
by Check CU | Jan 11, 2021 | Latest Articles
Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin gets upset at a City Council meeting on January 4th, 2020 over allegations that she frequently tries to deceive the public At the January 4th City Council meeting, Mayor Diane Marlin finally commented on the numerous Open Meetings Act (OMA)...
by Check CU | Jan 6, 2021 | Latest Articles
On November 2nd, 2020, Urbana City Administrator Carol Mitten spoke about a mysterious memo regarding the legality of the obstacles she had placed in front of Urbana residents attempting to submit police complaints. The memo was in regards to the filing of...
by Check CU | Jan 3, 2021
These documents were provided by the City of Urbana in response to a FOIA request which asked for “any and all documents related to the initial hiring of Curt Borman, as well as any documents related to his salary during the entire time that he’s worked for the...
by Check CU | Dec 16, 2020
These documents were provided by the Village of Skokie, Illinois. They show records related to the employment of Curtis Scott Borman as a police officer from January 7, 1988 to January 8, 1998. Curt Borman is currently employed by the City of Urbana as an Assistant...
by Check CU | Dec 7, 2020 | Latest Articles
In January of 2020 there was a big kerfuffle over the alleged theft of a purse from the Carle Auxiliary Resale Boutique, 810 W. University Avenue. State Representative Carol Ammons was named as the suspect and naturally, with very little information, everyone...
by Check CU | Dec 2, 2020 | Latest Articles
Urbana City Administrator Carol Mitten claims that the City will sanction its public board members to prevent them from disclosing what happens in closed sessions. On the evening of November 30th, the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) assembled for an appeals...
by Check CU | Nov 29, 2020 | 2021 Election Candidates
Jared Miller is running for a 2nd term on Urbana City Council in Ward 7 “I want to continue fighting for real change within the City of Urbana on many of the contentious issues that the City is still struggling to find real answers for and take real action on.” Those...
by Check CU | Nov 26, 2020 | Latest Articles
A series of email snafus by Champaign County ACLU representatives has exposed a rather unsavory face of the civil liberties organization that we generally expect to act in the interests of the public. Champaign County ACLU president Carol Leff attempted to send an...
by Check CU | Nov 22, 2020 | Latest Articles
Demonstrators amass just north of the Urbana City Building on June 1st, carrying signs for George Floyd, Aleyah Lewis, Black Lives Matter, and innumerable slogans for police reform and accountability. After the killing of George Floyd in May, almost every government...
by Check CU | Nov 6, 2020
These documents show a number of posts and memos by the City of Urbana in regards to the appointment of a new Council member to the Ward 2 seat left vacant by Eric Jakobsson’s resignation at the end of June 2020. Though there were four applicants, only two qualified...
by Check CU | Nov 2, 2020
These records were provide by the City of Urbana on November 2nd 2020 in response to a FOIA request submitted on September 23rd, 2020. The request asked for any and all documents related to the new Community Engagement Coordinator position (which had been filled by...
by Check CU | Oct 28, 2020 | Latest Articles
The October 26th meeting of the Urbana City Council saw a manic Mayor Marlin, re-elevated to her civilian-crushing characteristics of September 14th, when she once again interrupted and muted multiple members of the public for encroaching on her newly-invented speech...
by Check CU | Oct 6, 2020 | Latest Articles
On the tail end of a discussion on Urbana’s policies and conduct regarding public records requests, something remarkably out of order happened. City Clerk Phyllis Clark interrupted Council member Jared Miller to recite a condescending and factually erroneous...
by Check CU | Sep 21, 2020 | Latest Data
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by Check CU | Sep 21, 2020 | Latest Data
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by Check CU | Sep 19, 2020 | Latest Articles
At the July 20th City Council meeting, during a presentation about the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Urbana City Attorney James Simon made a great number of false claims (documented to some extent in my letter to the Urbana City Council here). One particular...
by Check CU | Sep 14, 2020 | Latest Articles
Mayor Marlin at a Council Meeting, August 2020 On Saturday morning, Mayor Marlin sent out an email to the Urbana City Council and City of Urbana Department heads describing a plan to regulate speech during public input at meetings of public bodies. The relevant...
by Check CU | Aug 3, 2020
These records show the Urbana Police Department juvenile arrest data requested and brought to light by Ameena Payne. The records include the full year 2019 and partial year 2020 (through July). Ms. Payne’s original FOIA request is also included. 2020-405 (Payne)...
